Tampa Man and Maryland Banker Sentenced for Bank Fraud and Other Offenses

TAMPA, FL—U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez-Covington today sentenced Michael Anthony Prozer, III (36, Tampa) to eight-and-a-half years in federal prison and Fedor Stanley Salinas (35, Maryland) to 27 months in federal prison. Prozer and Salinas pled guilty on April 9, 2012, to conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud; mail fraud; wire fraud; and bank fraud. Prozer also pled guilty and was sentenced for making a false statement to a financial institution. As part of their sentence, the court also entered a money judgment against each in the amount of $2,959,995, the proceeds of the fraudulently obtained loan.

According to court documents, Prozer, formerly the chief executive officer of Xchangeagent Inc., recruited Salinas, a financial specialist at Wachovia Bank in Langley Park, Maryland, to aid in a scheme to defraud a Georgia bank by obtaining a short term business loan. The loan was purportedly secured by nonexistent collateral. Prozer and Salinas produced fraudulent bank statements and supporting documents to convince bank officials that Prozer had more than $21 million deposited at Wachovia Bank, when in fact no such funds existed. The scheme resulted in a $2,999,995 loss to Park Avenue Bank in Valdosta, Georgia.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by First Assistant United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley and Assistant United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney.